The BMC Racing Team heads to Sunday’s Paris-Nice start with a number of options, and has ambitions in both stage victories and the overall classification. US Brent Bookwalter, Taylor Phinney and Tejay van Garderen, for example, will all be targeting the opening 9.4km time trial, between Dampierre-en-Yvelines and Saint-Rémy-lès-Chevreuse which begins with the climb to the 3rd category Côte des Dix-sept Tournants.
As the race hits the first of its road stages on Monday though, the team will change its focus, with one of its three former World champions chasing stage victories.
“There are a lot of stages with a lot of opportunities and we have a team that can do something in all of them,” said the team’s directeur sportif Rik Verbrugghe. “It will be a really hard race, with not many sprints. There will probably be selective groups, which would mean we could do something for Thor Hushovd.”
Amaël Moinard won the final stage and the King of the Mountains classification in the 2010 edition of Paris-Nice, but will be part of the team that will support van Garderen in the general classification.
“We have some classic riders here, which will allow him to stay out of trouble the first couple days,” said Moinard. “Then, as it gets harder, we will be there to support him and I hope to be on the offensive to go for a stage.
“The last weekend the races are on roads close to my home that I ride almost every day,” the Frenchman added. “So that's the best motivation for me.”
BMC Racing Team for Paris-Nice
Brent Bookwalter, Marcus Burghardt, Thor Hushovd, Klaas Lodewyck, Amaël Moinard, Taylor Phinney, Tejay van Garderen and Danilo Wyss